Quail

[Brute 23]

That is the problem. It is hard to be disciplined enough to make both work. The majority of people will see the $$$ they are missing out on and the quail will get the short end of the stick.

You want to know what killed the quail.... the round bale. Before round bales you had to stock pile grass. You could not over graze and then bank on buying hay or pulling grass out of the barn. People had square bales for when it was real nasty but it wasn't any where near what they feed now days. Most people grew there own corn for feed. A lot of people planted rye grass and stuff for winter grazing. You had the diversity Jo is talking about. You had pastures that actually had grass in them grazing, plots with corn for feed, and a field that was grown up waiting to be planted in the fall with rye grass. :tiphat: One more reason I hate round bales.

 

[Jake]

the switch from milo to corn in our area and the use of glyphosate took a pretty big toll on the bird populations as well as several drought years that they didn't raise much of a brood. We have quail all over this year, best numbers I've seen in a LONG LONG time. Pheasants are basically gone, will see a few around but they are a novelty. I really think the biggest reason for this is how grown up and wooded everything is today. Creeks are full of trees, pastures are full of cedars and locust, not much favorable for pheasant habitat.

 

[Jogeephus]

I'll have to see if I can get creative enough to manage for both profitability and quail numbers.

From what I saw it doesn't take much sacrifice of resources to enhance the habitat. It was a bunch of little things that added up. The hardest thing was just to get into that mindset and blow off the criticism you get from those who point out your haphazard land management.

I was recently at a meeting on turkey management and I listened to an idiot speak about what to do for turkeys. Near about everything she said was nonsense and couldn't be applied in the real world. I don't know where they find these people because I've got one of the heaviest turkey populations in the county and I'm doing nothing this person suggested. I give all the credit to cattle grazing in the woods and my love of control burning. These two together benefit all wildlife IMO.

 

[Kell-inKY]

Another reason to hate deer. Explosion of deer population here has caused an explosion of coyote and other varmints, plus all the coons etc. Not to mention you don't dare set foot in the woods or tall grass because of the accompanying ticks brought by the deer. It'll be next year before I can do anything though, preparing to reseed this fall. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[fenceman]

We have one of the highest deer populations in the country and no ticks. When I was a kid it was almost a nightly deal to be stood naked on the table and searched for ticks. We had lots of quail and Turkey to. The fire ants showed up and everything but the deer disappeared.
We are now starting to see quail and Turkey again I reckon the ticks will be back soon.
There's good and bad in everything.

This morning

 

[NolanCountyAG]

We have more quail this year than I've ever seen around. It seems that the people in my area that aren't seeing many birds all have one thing in common, they have dedicated quail feeders. Most of those feeders have probably never been moved and the bobcats and other predators know where to hide out for an easy meal.

 

[Jogeephus]

We have more quail this year than I've ever seen around. It seems that the people in my area that aren't seeing many birds all have one thing in common, they have dedicated quail feeders. Most of those feeders have probably never been moved and the bobcats and other predators know where to hide out for an easy meal.

Feeders are also a great way to spread disease.

 

[NolanCountyAG]

Eye worms are also a pretty big problem in the birds around here.